There has been proposed a sheet separating apparatus. The sheet separating apparatus includes a stacking part, a separation roller, a separation pad serving as a flexible member, and a holding member.
The stacking part has a sheet support surface configured to support a sheet. The separation roller is configured to contact the sheet, which is fed from the stacking part, from an opposite side to the sheet support surface and to convey the sheet toward a downstream side in a conveying direction. The separation pad has flexibility. The separation pad includes a moveable first end portion positioned upstream in the conveying direction and a second end portion positioned downstream in the conveying direction and configured to face the separation roller. The second end portion of the separation pad is attached to the holding member. The holding member is configured to urge the second end portion of the separation pad toward the separation roller.
More specifically, the separation pad has an auxiliary support surface at an upstream side in the conveying direction, i.e., at the first end portion-side. The auxiliary support surface is configured to support a downstream end portion of the sheet, which is supported on the sheet support surface, in the conveying direction and to be bendable in a direction getting away from the separation roller. Also, the separation pad has a friction surface at a downstream side in the conveying direction, i.e., at the second end portion-side. The friction surface is configured to face the separation roller so that it can contact the separation roller, and is configured to separate the sheet one at a time in cooperation with the separation roller.
However, according to the related-art sheet separating apparatus, as the number of stacked sheets supported on the sheet support surface increases, the auxiliary support surface of the separation pad is bent in the direction getting away from the separation roller. Thereby, the bending of the auxiliary support surface influences the friction surface, thereby deforming the friction surface. For this reason, according to the sheet separating apparatus, when the sheet fed from the stacking part is nipped by the separation roller and the friction surface of the separation pad, the nipped state, for example, an inclined angle of the friction surface of the separation pad relative to the separation roller or a pressing force thereof is varied, so that the separation performance may be deteriorated. As a result, problems such as multi feed of sheets and unloaded feed of the sheet may occur in the sheet separating apparatus.